oppositum [a (maybe) Nikolai Lantsov story] (currently being reviewed)

IV*

Nix had stayed in bed longer than she had expected.

When she woke up, Koira's worried face greeted her and she seemed to sense Rasmus' presence in the room. The man at her bedside took her hand in his when he saw that the young child was awake.

"How do you feel Nix?

-I feel nothing. Nothing."

Her voice was emotionless and it seemed as if there was a veil over her eyes like those of a dead man. The general was taken with a paternal flush of sadness at Nix's face. To him, the girl was broken. Dead. He made it his mission to give Nix as much love as if she had been his daughter. "You need to rest Nixi, I'll come back to see you tomorrow."

The girl flashed a smile at the use of the nickname Koira and her father used before it disappeared when the word 'father' passed through her mind. Koira placed a kiss on her ward's temple before leaving the room, leaving her place to Nix's brother.

The boy approached his sister's bed and slipped under the sheets. The girl took her brother in her arms and Rasmus clung to his sister as if she could disappear at any moment. "Promise to stay with me Nix." The little girl stroked his hair gently before nodding. "I promise Rasmus, you are the last member of my family and I don't want to lose you." The boy hummed in agreement and dropped into the sleeping bag, still clinging to his sister.

She watched the little boy sleeps, her mind already running miles away from her bedroom. Her plan was prepared, she only needed to talk about it to Koira, she needed him to help her. In one night, the little girl Nix was had totally disappeared and now only stayed anger and hatred. Rage against herself and her malediction.

For hours she observed Rasmus sleeps, the boy looked so calm, so peaceful, so innocent. She needed to protect him, to shield him from what she had become. What if he had the same allergy than their father? What if she was killing her own little brother too? She wouldn't be able to support it. Killing the last member of her family.

She called for Koira and ordered him to take Rasmus back to his room and forbid him the access of her bedroom. She couldn't bear to loose her brother even if that meant to not see him again ever.

Months passed and slowly, as she never used her gift, Nix began to feel her skin burn days by days until she couldn't even get out of her bedroom, staying in a constant state of fever. The pain was like freedom for the little girl who interpret it, in her little time of consciousness, as a punishment for being who she is.

Koira tried to put some sense into the girl's head but nothing to do. She had became someone he didn't knew. The only things he could do was to help her to not suffer more than she is.

A year passed, then two.

Nix was getting better, her urges to use her fire had calmed down and she considered herself healed partially from her malediction.

"Call Koira" she grunted at one of her maids, one morning. Her voice was deep and raspy from the days and nights she passed screaming from pain and nightmares.

The nine years old girl got up from her bed and a maid came to help her to walk toward her bath. The water was cold as ice, almost burning Nix's skin but she didn't seemed to mind. The maid then processed to dress the girl in warm clothes as the winter season was beginning and the air was more and more chilly.

"Don't you want to sit, Your Highness?" The maid asked her gently, trying to lead the girl toward her desk.

"No need, Valentine." Nix replied, flicking her hand to ask the maid to leave her alone.

As soon as she dismissed the maid, someone knocked at her door.

"Enter" Nix just said, helping herself with her desk to stay up.

Koira pushed the door and beamed a smile at the girl.

"Nix, I mean, Your Highness." He said, bowing a little when he remarked the maids' presence.

Nix waved his politeness "No need for such formalities, Koira." She then looked at her maids "You may leave us alone."

Once they were alone, Koira approached his pupil and put her into a hug. "Nixi, how are you today? Do you need to sit?" He asked, inspecting her face, giving her a poor smile when he saw the marked dark circles under the nine years old's eyes.

"I am perfectly fine, Koira. My cure is almost at it's end. Now I only need some time to put me back in shape and to not look like sickly." She replied calmly. "What new with the Kingdom?" She asked, as Koira led them to a little table and helped her, despite her glare, to sit on one of the chair.

"Nothing that really matter. Rasmus was sad that you couldn't be there for his birthday.

-I'm doing this for his own good, you know that.

-Of course I do, Nix. He misses you, that's all. Sweetheart, it's been almost two years and an half he didn't saw a glimpse of you."

The girl sighed. She missed her brother too, if she had not had her maids and Koira during those years of isolation, she would have gone mad.

"I'll see him soon enough. Only a few more months before I'm sure I would not harm him. I can't afford to lose him, Koira."

The general nodded "I understand, Nix. Just... be careful. Take care of yourself as we take care of you, darling."

With a warm smile, he enveloped the girl in a hug. She was like her daughter, taking care of her for his best-friend. Nix hugged the man back, hiding her head in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Koira." She whispered, closing her eyes and letting herself relax to the warm of her man she considered like a father since the death of the King.